Welcome back to another edition of Lining Up. This week we will highlight a few players who have favourable deployments and schedules this fantasy week. We will also examine some of the top even-strength and power-play line combinations to see if there are any players worth highlighting.

Let's dive in.

Washington

Washington has yet to score a goal on the power-play and Alex Ovechkin has two assists and is under two and a half shots per game for the first time in his career. No doubt the team is experiencing some poor puck luck, but many prognostications certainly were not so pessimistic as to think Washington would be dwelling at the bottom of the standings. So how come Washington is being highlighted here? Predominantly because the team has four games still to come this week and three of the games are on light days: Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Additionally, as we will see with Buffalo, in an effort to inject some life into the squad, the lines have been thrown into a blender and Matthew Phillips has come out as the potentially lucky beneficiary who is now playing alongside Ovechkin. Phillips already has three points in four games but if he can stick with this line combination it could lead to a few extra points. If you are of the opinion that while this may be an early warning sign of age-related decline for Ovechkin but that it should not be this steep, Phillips is worth gambling on in deep leagues for the favourable deployment and schedule.

Buffalo

Similarly to Washington, although to a lesser extent, Buffalo has been very cold to start the season and it did not improve last night with a 3-1 loss to Montreal. Be that is it may, Jordan Greenway was bumped up to a line with Tage Thompson in an effort to get him, or the rest of the team for that matter, out of a funk. Greenway so far has three points in six games along with ten hits for those who count that stat in leagues. Thompson on the other hand is cold in every advanced and normal metric. He has one point in six games but has taken nearly five shots per game and is averaging over 19:00 of TOI, he is bound to start getting pucks in the net and when that happens, Greenway can cash in so long as he is still lined up.

Like Washington, Buffalo has an excellent schedule, playing three more games this week with two of those games are on light days: Friday and Sunday.

Even-Strength Forwards

Aside from the schedule, we are also going to do a review of the top line combinations so far, starting with the top-ten forward lines at even strength. Early on the results can be heavily influenced by the short sample size given that some teams have played 50% more games than others. However, it is still worth discussing some names on the list below that may still be flying under the radar in your league.

Ryan Strome – Frank Vatrano – Mason McTavish

This line combination is startling for two reasons, first off, it's from Anaheim. Second, the line does not have one of Trevor Zegras or Troy Terry. Now it is a small sample size and early in the season, but that does not mean we should dismiss good value while there are players to be had. Frank Vatrano is the straw that stirs the drink on this line, he has an unsustainable IPP of 83.3% and is red hot with five points in his last four games to go along with a career high 19:08 of TOI. Mason McTavish and Ryan Strome are both joining in with four points each and the line as a whole has 48.9 CF%, which we would like to see north of 50% but they are not being utilized the same way as Zegras or Terry. The line starts the majority of their shifts in the defensive zone, so to see a CF% of just below 50% on Anaheim is a good indicator that they are playing decent hockey at the moment. All three players are under 50% rostered in Yahoo leagues and Anaheim typically has many games coming on light days. Consider adding all three players but Vatrano in particular while they continue to produce.

Forwards on the Power-Play

As an overall note, it is exciting to see such excellent early returns from Arizona who were in the bottom ten teams of the league in terms of power-play conversion at 18.9% last season. Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz are likely rostered in most leagues, but Keller matched his career high in power-play points last season with 20 and Schmaltz has never exceeded 13. In spite of that, Keller and Schmaltz 1.05 and 0.92 point-per-game rates last season respectively. If the power-play can continue at this rate it could push both of them, but especially Keller to the next level of fantasy stardom. Many owners may still be down on Arizona but this team may finally be a competitive roster.

Ryan Johansen

No surprise here that Colorado continues to dominate on the power-play. This year Ryan Johansen has been tagging along for the ride on the top unit. He has received a 75.8% share of the power-play time and all three of his points have come with the man advantage. This is the highest amount of power-play time he has seen in his career and he has a reasonable PPIPP of 60%. While he had his moments in Nashville, Johansen has had more than 20 power-play points in only one of his last six seasons. This is also, without question the best unit he has been a part of. Continuing in this role for the season should allow him to set a career high in power-play points while playing a secondary role on the roster.

David Perron

Lucas Raymond was highlighted last week but it is David Perron and not Raymond who is the other forward joining Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat on the power-play and so far that unit has seven goals for and is converting at an absurd rate of nearly 40%. Perron has historically produced well on the power-play, during his last three seasons in St. Louis prior to coming over to Detroit, he averaged 24.7 power-play points and averaged an 83.1 PPIPP. Even though he went pointless in this first three games, Perron has joined in the rush lately with four points in his last three games, including three points on the power-play. This unit will not continue converting at this rate so add Perron to your lineup while you can.

Defensemen on the Power-Play

Many of the names on this list are the usual suspects or are not surprising but there a couple of defensemen early on who are worth highlighting.

New Jersey Defensemen

It is notable that not one, but two, Devils defensemen are on this list. While Hamilton is not playing on what can be construed as the top unit, the one with Jack Hughes, it seems with all the firepower on the roster that both units are productive for now. This is good news for Hamilton who risks having his value hurt by this set up, but it is great for Luke Hughes who was likely pegged by many as being at least a year away from supplanting Hamilton as the de facto number one.

Hamilton has five points in four games, shooting an unsustainable 20% but is taking nearly four shots per game and has three points including two goals with the man advantage. He should not be expected to continue at his current 103-point pace for the season but as noted, early results show that his deployment has not hurt him yet. Luke Hughes meanwhile only has one point coming on the power-play despite receiving the more favourable setup. Last game against the New York Islanders, Hughes saw 71.8% of the power-play time to Hamilton's 23.3% and even though he had more time and his unit scored two more goals than Hamilton's, he only logged one point, albeit a goal. It may be a matter of time before Hamilton retakes his role but while Hughes is being deployed along with his brother on the top unit, scoop him up if he's available.

Sean Durzi

Following the review of the top forward combinations on the power-play, it follows that Sean Durzi would also be on this list as the reigning quarterback in Arizona. He has four points in five games so far with two of those points coming on the power-play. He is also taking nearly three shots per game and seeing a 70% share of the power-play with that top unit. Unlike Hughes, Durzi looks to be unchallenged so long as the Arizona power-play continues to produce. If Durzi is available in your league, he shouldn't be, so go get him.